Representations and complaints procedures

Abstract

One of the potentially more onerous responsibilities of programme providers offering Diploma in Social Work Courses, is the strong recommendation in CCETSW PAPER 30 at Paragraph 3.2.4.2 to establish a clear procedure for handling complaints. This article seeks to outline the potential difficulties in establishing such a procedure, discusses some of the principles which in the writer's view are necessary core conditions for an effective procedure and outlines a possible model for practice. This model was consulted with students, practice teachers and university based teaching staff. Consultation with the full membership of the Diploma in Social Work Partnership and with the wider university is not completed at the time of writing. It is hoped that a subsequent article will outline the final structure of the model agreed upon and its operation on a trial basis for 12 months from Spring 1992.

The writer has had experience of developing and operating a complaints procedure for workers in voluntary social work agencies in New Zealand and also for foster carers in a London borough. The article draws on experience in those two very different settings, as well as the experience of working to develop a procedure for the Diploma of Social Work course.